The implications of climate change conditions in the pavement design

Abstract

The design of pavement structure is as a set of several activities related to the design of road construction, dimension and model calculations. This includes calculations of load effects, taking into account the properties of the materials, the subgrade conditions, and the climatic conditions. The measurements of climatic conditions in Slovakia were the basis for assessing changes in average daily air temperatures in individual seasons. Since the 19th century we have seen in Slovakia an increase in the average air temperature of 1.5 ° C. Currently, there are scenarios of climate change until 2100. An increase in air temperature is assumed, with an increase in average monthly temperatures of 2.0 to 4.8 °C. In road construction, as well as in other areas of engineering, we must respond to current climate change and also to expected changes. The average annual air temperature and the frost index are the critical climatic characteristics are the main for the design (input parameter) and evaluation of pavement. From the practical side it is possible to use the design maps of average annual air temperature and frost index according to STN 73 6114 from year 1997. In cooperation with the Slovak Hydrometeorological Institute from the long-term monitoring of temperatures, different meteorological characteristics were measured in the current period. From the measurements of twelve professional meteorological stations for the period 1971 to 2020, the dependence between two variables in probability theory is derived. The average annual air temperatures used for prognoses are collected from long-term measurements (fifty years). The design of road constructions and calculations of road construction models, which are in the system design solution (comparative calculations of asphalt pavement- and cement-concrete pavement models), we have also tested road construction materials - especially asphalt mixtures. The results were used to correct the values of input data, design criteria, as well as measures to reduce the impact of changes in climate conditions.